Kavli Institute

This artist's conception shows two merging black holes similar to those detected by LIGO. The black holes are spinning in a nonaligned fashion, which means they have different orientations relative to the overall orbital motion of the pair. LIGO found hints that at least one black hole in the system called GW170104 was nonaligned with its orbital motion before it merged with its partner.

LIGO detects merging black holes for third time

Nearly 3 billion light years from Earth, the black holes are the farthest ever detected.

June 1, 2017

An artist’s impression of the newly-discovered rocky exoplanet, LHS 1140b, located in the liquid water habitable zone surrounding its host star, a small, faint red star named LHS 1140. The planet weighs about 6.6 times the mass of Earth and is shown passing in front of LHS 1140. Depicted in blue is the atmosphere the planet may have retained.

Another potentially habitable extrasolar planet discovered

Some 40 light-years away, "super-Earth" identified as new target for atmospheric study.

April 21, 2017

In this artist's rendering, a thick accretion disk has formed around a supermassive black hole following the tidal disruption of a star that wandered too close. Stellar debris has fallen toward the black hole and collected into a thick chaotic disk of hot gas. Flashes of X-ray light near the center of the disk result in light echoes that allow astronomers to map the structure of the funnel-like fl...

Scientists identify a black hole choking on stardust

Data suggest black holes swallow stellar debris in bursts.

March 14, 2017

Clockwise from top left: Andrew Babbin, Eliezer Calo, Max Metlitski, Matěj Peč, Salvatore Vitale

School of Science welcomes five new professors this spring

March 3, 2017

The Hydrogen Epoch of Reionization Array (HERA) radio telescope is dedicated to observing large scale structure during and prior to the epoch of reionization.

MIT's Jacqueline Hewitt and HERA team given $5.8M boost to detect cosmic dawn

Funding will complete array and measure signals from universe’s first stars.

March 2, 2017

This composite image shows powerful radio jets from the supermassive black hole at the center of a galaxy in the Phoenix Cluster inflating huge "bubbles" in the hot, ionized gas surrounding the galaxy. The cavities inside the blue region were imaged by NASA's Chandra X-ray observatory. Hugging the outside of these bubbles, ALMA discovered an unexpected trove of cold gas, the fuel for star formatio...

Self-made stars

Astronomers observe black hole producing cold, star-making fuel from hot plasma jets and bubbles.

February 14, 2017

“There seems to be no shortage of exoplanets,” says Jennifer Burt, a Torres postdoctoral fellow in MIT’s Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research. “There are a ton of them out there, and a ton of science to be done.”

Scientists make huge dataset of nearby stars available to public

Users can search database of 1,600 stars to find signs of new exoplanets.

February 13, 2017

After making several upgrades, scientists have restarted the twin detectors of LIGO, the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory. The Livingston detector site, located near Livingston, Louisiana, is pictured here.

LIGO back online, ready for more discoveries

Upgrades make detectors more sensitive to gravitational waves.

November 30, 2016

NASA’s New Horizons team has found evidence of any icy, slushy ocean beneath Pluto’s “heart."

Pluto’s icy, slushy heart

Data from New Horizons mission suggest a water-ice ocean lies beneath Pluto’s heart-shaped basin.

November 16, 2016

This artist's depiction shows the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft contacting the asteroid Bennu with its Touch-And-Go Sample Arm. The mission aims to return a sample of Bennu's surface coating to Earth and to return detailed information about the asteroid and its trajectory.

MIT’s REXIS is bound for asteroid Bennu

Instrument will help OSIRIS-REx mission identify locations for collecting an asteroid sample.

September 8, 2016

An X-ray image of the Perseus Cluster from NASA’s Chandra Observatory.

Dead X-ray satellite reveals “quiet” center of massive galaxy cluster

Scientists find gas at center of Perseus cluster travels much more slowly than expected.

July 6, 2016

This illustration shows the merger of two black holes and the gravitational waves that ripple outward as the black holes spiral toward each other. The black holes — which represent those detected by LIGO on Dec. 26, 2015 — were 14 and 8 times the mass of the sun, until they merged, forming a single black hole 21 times the mass of the sun. In reality, the area near the black holes would appear ...

For second time, LIGO detects gravitational waves

Signal was produced by two black holes colliding 1.4 billion light years away.

June 15, 2016

This illustration depicts the view from outside of a rapidly-accreting black hole. The bright light toward the center represents the super-heating of gas as it falls onto the black hole. Emanating from the center is a jet of accelerated particles moving near the speed of light. Surrounding the black hold is cool, clumpy gas and dust, which are falling inwards and will eventually join the material ...

Scientists observe supermassive black hole feeding on cold gas

Findings suggest two dining styles for black holes.

June 8, 2016

Rainer Weiss wins Kavli Prize in Astrophysics

LIGO inventor shares award for direct detection of gravitational waves.

June 2, 2016

Rainer Weiss awarded the Shaw Prize in Astronomy

Physics professor emeritus shares prize with Caltech's Kip Thorne and Ronald Drever for designing the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory.

June 1, 2016

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